Prusa Research led by Josef Prusa releases a unique Calibrate XYZ feature for Original Prusa i3 MK2

And gets raving reviews from the community

Prusa Research releases a unique Calibrate XYZ function for the Original Prusa i3 MK2 which enables user built kit printers to print the same high quality, high precision parts as higher end printers. Printer determines how precisely it was built during the initial launch and automatically corrects for misalignments during the print process. MK2 is the first printer ever with this ability. Full mesh bed levelling is also implemented to achieve perfect first layer by copying the precise shape of the print surface.

More info

The problem with the home and prosumer 3D printers lies in the ease of use or more precisely the lack of it. They are pain to set up before every print and therefore when the initial excitement wears off, the printers collect dust. It is a complex problem of removing the barriers before the print.

With the MK2 release Prusa Research solved the two biggest ones. First is the prep free print surface by introducing the PEI space material and second is a full mesh bed levelling. Normally the print bed needs to be levelled for a printer to successfully lay the first layer and there is no need to stress how important is that for the successful finish of the print and adjustments are required very often on normal 3D printers.

Few printers like Lulzbot TAZ line introduced automatic bed levelling before, but solutions like this only measure three points and therefore only correct for the angle but not for the slight imperfections of the flatness every surface has. Now to explain the “mesh” in the MK2 mesh bed levelling. The print bed has 3×3 special calibration points where the printer can measure the distance between the surface and the print head. Those are used to generate a special high resolution map of the surface height which printhead follows and ensures the perfect first layer. Even the slightest bow or twist of the surface are compensated with ease and user doesn’t have to tweak anything before the print.

So that was the Z part from the XYZ calibration, now what the XY (introduced in a free firmware upgrade 3.0.6) means. Prusa Research produces the MK2 in two distinct flavours. Fully assembled and tested for $899 and more importantly a kit version for $699. The kit is very important as it the the preferred way how home users choose to get a 3D printer. The catch is how to achieve the same precision when often inexperienced builders assemble it?

That is where the MK2 is soo unique. The same calibration points are automatically located by the calibration probe after the build is finished. The measured data are then used the verify how well the printer was built and if the result is not optimal the magic begins. The geometry of the assembled printer is calculated and from that point on used to automatically compensate and get perfectly precise parts! More info about technology behind it can be found at http://prusaprinters.org/first-printer-to-automatically-correct-geometry-in-all-axes/

This allows unheard of levels of precision and print detail especially at such a low price point. Precisely because of this the print quality is compared to Ultimaker 2+ by many and receives rave reviews from 3D printing pros.

About Prusa Resarch s.r.o.

Prusa Research s.r.o. is a Czech 3D printing company founded by Josef Průša in 2009 as a one-man startup. Within next few years, without any external investments it has evolved into one of the most innovative and growing companies in the 3D industry. Prusa Research is currently manufacturing 1000 3D printers monthly.